Henderson and Freire will not be the only 155-pound fighters competing for Lightweight supremacy — Saad Awad and Derek Anderson will also lock horns, each looking to put together back-to-back win streaks. Awad is an interesting case because he lost his last fight in the weight class to Patricio’s older brother, Patricky Freire, at Bellator 141. Most recently, he did take a short notice fight at Welterweight, scoring a technical knockout of Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos at Bellator 154.

Anderson should be a good challenge for Awad in his return to the division. He’s 3-2 over his last five fights and would actually be 4-1 over that span were it not for a close split decision loss to Brent Primus. In a recent interview with MMAmania.com, Awad explained his confidence going into a what is essentially a hometown bout as he looks to once again assert his position in Bellator’s most competitive division.

“I’m sure you know fighters always say that it’s the best camp I’ve had, but I can honestly say that this one has been really good. I’m really confident going into this fight.”

As far as confidence goes, there’s one Bellator fighter who Anderson holds wins over and Awad does not. Indeed, Anderson has beaten Patricky Freire twice. Does this affect Awad’s mindset going into a key Lightweight fight?

“If you want to look at that and do the MMA math, a win over Derek gives me a win back over Patricky. It’s going to ….View full article